THE G-20 IN PITTSBURGH
by Tom Over 9-23-09
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On Tuesday, Sept 22, activists from Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh and other cities held a mock funeral procession to demand better policies for addressing the AIDS pandemic, a day ahead of the arrival of delegates for the G-20.
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The approximately 50 participants in the New Orleans-style funeral march drew a mix of interest, irritation, and amusement from onlookers in the business district of downtown Pittsburgh.
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At the head of the funeral march where pallbearers carried a cardboard coffin, a man shouted into a microphone while someone else carried a portable amplifier, “when people with AIDS are under attack, what do we do ?” and marchers shouted in unison, “fight back!”
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Amidst the early afternoon bustle of an weekday, the demonstrators repeated this call-and-answer and similar chants as the funeral march made its way around the perimeter of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the site of the G-20 Summit later this week.
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Erica Goldberg works with ACT UP Philadelphia. She said global health is not on the agenda of the G-20 Summit.
“One of the things that some of the G-20 nations have promised us is funding for the global fund to fight, TB, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. This is all really important, especially if we want to meet the United Nations’ Millennium goal of eradicating these diseases by 2015. As of right now, this won’t be met. We have to hold our leaders accountable. They are the ones making decisions for the poorer countries,” Goldberg said.
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She commented on the timing of the demonstration. “We wanted this to be the first thing they (the G-20 delegates) see. They’re coming here tomorrow. We’re holding them accountable. This needs to be on the agenda.”
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She said AIDS activists chose Sept 22, two days before the official start of the G-20 Summit, and one day before the arrival of the delegates, so as to not have to compete with other protests. Also, she said the AIDS activists figured there would be less of a chance of conflict with police if they staged their protest earlier in the week.
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“We hope that this will hit the papers tomorrow, that it’s the first thing they see when they walk in, that they have this on their conscience and know we’re not going away,” Goldberg said. She urges people to contact legislators about supporting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
“President Obama, as much as I love him, went back on his promise to fulfill the funding,” Goldberg said.
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She commented on how drug companies factor into all of this. “ Medication does not need to be this expensive. They can definitely lower their prices. We have big drug interests lobbying to prevent AIDS medication from getting” to developing nations.
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Goldberg said debt cancellation for developing nations is a factor that comes into play.
“When you don’t cancel debts of nations and they have to pay back loans to the IMF and the World Bank, they won’t have the funds necessary for getting AIDS medication, or they might get the medication but can’t pay the health professional because of their debt.
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She said vested interested motivated by huge profits stand in the way of doing a better job of addressing tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. “We have the power, the ability, and the medication.”
World News
When, in a recent AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) conference, Barack Obama revealed some of the specifics of his revised approach in dealing with Iran and its controversial nuclear program, many John McCain supporters interpreted it as either a sign of weakness or an indication of a flawed character on his part that is out to deceive the US electorate. It goes without saying that such interpretations as the above are no more than simplistic assessments of a rather complex situation, and thus not a proper analysis of the big picture in which Obama is but one player. In other words, a proper analysis of the situation would not have so much involved Obama as it would have the skewed nature of politics in the United States, as a result of which a liberal presidential nominee like Obama was eventually forced to speak in the manner of a hawkish neoconservative.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- After extending Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for one year, Burma's military junta on Thursday (May 29) blamed her political party members, and fake donors, for inciting Cyclone Nargis survivors to riot.
Washington, London, Paris and other foreign governments blasted Burma for extending Mrs. Suu Kyi's house arrest on Tuesday (May 27) for another year, after detaining her without trial as a "security threat" for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
The U.S., Europe and other countries said international relief was a priority, however, and aid efforts would continue, mostly through countries friendly to Burma, the U.N., and non-governmental organizations.
The U.S. has been allowed to send more than 70 C-130 cargo flights -- carrying plastic sheets, water containers, hygiene kits and food -- from Thailand to Burma's commercial port of Rangoon, but the trickle is not enough, U.S. officials said.
Washington, London, Paris and other foreign governments blasted Burma for extending Mrs. Suu Kyi's house arrest on Tuesday (May 27) for another year, after detaining her without trial as a "security threat" for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
The U.S., Europe and other countries said international relief was a priority, however, and aid efforts would continue, mostly through countries friendly to Burma, the U.N., and non-governmental organizations.
The U.S. has been allowed to send more than 70 C-130 cargo flights -- carrying plastic sheets, water containers, hygiene kits and food -- from Thailand to Burma's commercial port of Rangoon, but the trickle is not enough, U.S. officials said.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The world's most famous political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi, was due to be freed from house arrest this weekend, but the international community and Burma's military junta have been focusing on aid for cyclone victims instead of her liberation.
During her more than 12 years of house arrest, Mrs. Suu Kyi has always been able to walk out of her lakeside, two-story villa in Rangoon, if she permanently leaves the Southeast Asian country which her assassinated father helped create.
If she left Burma, however, the junta would most likely never allow her to return, which is why she did not attend the funeral in England when her husband, British academic Michael Aris, died several years ago.
Now unwilling to travel to see her two adult sons in Britain, Mrs. Suu Kyi was recently barred from becoming Burma's leader after the junta pushed through, on May 10, a new constitution disqualifying candidates who have foreign relatives.
One year ago, the junta extended her house arrest for another 12 months, due to expire on Saturday (May 24).
During her more than 12 years of house arrest, Mrs. Suu Kyi has always been able to walk out of her lakeside, two-story villa in Rangoon, if she permanently leaves the Southeast Asian country which her assassinated father helped create.
If she left Burma, however, the junta would most likely never allow her to return, which is why she did not attend the funeral in England when her husband, British academic Michael Aris, died several years ago.
Now unwilling to travel to see her two adult sons in Britain, Mrs. Suu Kyi was recently barred from becoming Burma's leader after the junta pushed through, on May 10, a new constitution disqualifying candidates who have foreign relatives.
One year ago, the junta extended her house arrest for another 12 months, due to expire on Saturday (May 24).
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The U.S. military commander of the Pacific, Adm. Timothy J. Keating, met Burmese military officers in Burma on Monday for the first time, to jointly examine maps of the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta, during a successful delivery of the first American airlift of emergency aid.
"They met some Burmese officials at the airport, including the deputy foreign minister, and they gathered together and looked at maps," a U.S. official said in an interview, asking to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak for attribution.
Adm. Keating and other U.S. military personnel huddled with Burmese military and government officials at Rangoon's international airport in sweltering, mid-day heat.
They discussed geographical features, logistics, and the suffering of survivors on the stricken Irrawaddy River delta, where officially 28,458 people perished, and 33,416 disappeared in Cyclone Nargis.
The cyclone brought murderous rain, wind and tidal swells ashore from the Bay of Bengal, onto the densely packed delta southwest of Rangoon on May 3.
"They met some Burmese officials at the airport, including the deputy foreign minister, and they gathered together and looked at maps," a U.S. official said in an interview, asking to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak for attribution.
Adm. Keating and other U.S. military personnel huddled with Burmese military and government officials at Rangoon's international airport in sweltering, mid-day heat.
They discussed geographical features, logistics, and the suffering of survivors on the stricken Irrawaddy River delta, where officially 28,458 people perished, and 33,416 disappeared in Cyclone Nargis.
The cyclone brought murderous rain, wind and tidal swells ashore from the Bay of Bengal, onto the densely packed delta southwest of Rangoon on May 3.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Burma's regime focused its time, manpower and propaganda on winning approval for a new constitution on Saturday to increase the military's domination, while the U.N. and other organizations flew in aid to rescue more than one million neglected cyclone survivors.
Government-controlled TV showed repetitious loops of Burma's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and other generals handing out aid boxes to victims during stilted events, while mostly ignoring the cyclone's rising death toll.
One aid box bore the name of a rising official, Lt. Gen. Myint Swe, in bold letters that distracted from a smaller label reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand," according to Associated Press.
The U.S. prepared to fly emergency provisions into the cyclone-wrecked commercial port of Rangoon, on its first cargo flight scheduled for Monday.
But Washington was unable to get Burma's approval to give the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) 10 Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) experts entry visas for Monday's flight, crushing hopes of a major U.S. airlift.
Government-controlled TV showed repetitious loops of Burma's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and other generals handing out aid boxes to victims during stilted events, while mostly ignoring the cyclone's rising death toll.
One aid box bore the name of a rising official, Lt. Gen. Myint Swe, in bold letters that distracted from a smaller label reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand," according to Associated Press.
The U.S. prepared to fly emergency provisions into the cyclone-wrecked commercial port of Rangoon, on its first cargo flight scheduled for Monday.
But Washington was unable to get Burma's approval to give the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) 10 Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) experts entry visas for Monday's flight, crushing hopes of a major U.S. airlift.
It is always good to know as a citizen that your leaders think everything is
under control, for this reason I can only begin to imagine the relief people
in the United States must feel when President Bush publicly acknowledges; "I
believe that our economy has got the fundamentals in place.” I must admit
however that I struggle to understand where the president is getting his
data from and I dread to think what things will look like by the time he
admits that “fundamentals” are not really “in place”. According to Alan
Greenspan “as of right now, U.S. economic growth is at zero”, “home prices
will continue to weaken” and a boom in oil prices is going to "go on
forever". As he puts it, the US is “clearly on the edge.”
BANGKOK, Thailand -- America's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) team said Thursday it was stuck in Bangkok hoping Burma would issue visas, so the U.S. could provide water, food, shelter and safety to countless thousands of people suffering from Cyclone Nargis, which killed an estimated 100,000 people.
"We are trying to get access, to send our team to Burma," DART leader William S. Berger said in an interview.
"We are awaiting visas now. They haven't granted us visas," Mr. Berger said.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) deployed 10 DART experts in response to the cyclone, along with an initial $250,000 for emergency relief assistance.
"That money was given to UNICEF, UNHCR and the World Food Program," Mr. Berger said referring to United Nations organizations which are also providing assistance.
USAID gave an additional one million dollars to the American Red Cross to help rescue survivors in Burma, he said.
But the 10 DART "technical experts" have been unable to fly from the Thai capital to Rangoon, Burma's cyclone-stricken commerical port which is also known as Yangon.
"We are trying to get access, to send our team to Burma," DART leader William S. Berger said in an interview.
"We are awaiting visas now. They haven't granted us visas," Mr. Berger said.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) deployed 10 DART experts in response to the cyclone, along with an initial $250,000 for emergency relief assistance.
"That money was given to UNICEF, UNHCR and the World Food Program," Mr. Berger said referring to United Nations organizations which are also providing assistance.
USAID gave an additional one million dollars to the American Red Cross to help rescue survivors in Burma, he said.
But the 10 DART "technical experts" have been unable to fly from the Thai capital to Rangoon, Burma's cyclone-stricken commerical port which is also known as Yangon.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Burma has blocked the cyclone-stricken country from most international relief efforts, and is instead telling citizens to vote on Saturday for a new constitution which will entrench the military regime's domination.
Burma's junta apparently fears U.S. and other foreign aid groups will include subversive agents who could secretly give satellite telephones, weapons, cash and other help to Burmese dissidents and pro-democracy activists -- a perception frequently expressed in government-controlled media about Americans and others even before the cyclone.
Increasingly harsh demands by the U.S., United Nations, non-governmental aid agencies, and others to allow foreign relief workers into Burma were ignored on Friday, despite a spiraling death toll after Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands of people, and an estimated one million survivors struggling without help.
The junta said 22,997 people perished in the cyclone and 42,119 were missing in southern Burma, mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country and also known as Myanmar.
The U.S. Embassy in Burma estimated the toll may reach 100,000.
Burma's junta apparently fears U.S. and other foreign aid groups will include subversive agents who could secretly give satellite telephones, weapons, cash and other help to Burmese dissidents and pro-democracy activists -- a perception frequently expressed in government-controlled media about Americans and others even before the cyclone.
Increasingly harsh demands by the U.S., United Nations, non-governmental aid agencies, and others to allow foreign relief workers into Burma were ignored on Friday, despite a spiraling death toll after Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands of people, and an estimated one million survivors struggling without help.
The junta said 22,997 people perished in the cyclone and 42,119 were missing in southern Burma, mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country and also known as Myanmar.
The U.S. Embassy in Burma estimated the toll may reach 100,000.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- When Burma's biggest enemy the United States offered to send emergency cyclone relief, it probably sounded like North Korea wanting to send its warships and troops to New Orleans to rescue people in the aftermath of Katrina.
Imagine North Korea simultaneously trumpeting their purported benevolence with public insults against Washington for not warning Americans, or providing them with escape routes, before Hurricane Katrina hit the coast.
To complete the comparison, this through-the-looking-glass North Korea would also be successfully strangling the U.S. with harsh international economic sanctions, fueling widespread unemployment, a shattered banking system and other woes for most Americans in a failed bid to change Washington's policies.
Little wonder why Burma, a xenophobic Southeast Asian country also known as Myanmar, recoiled in silence when Washington said it just wants to help.
Then the Pentagon offered to send its nearby USS Kitty Hawk and USS Nimitz to Burma's cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy River delta.
Imagine North Korea simultaneously trumpeting their purported benevolence with public insults against Washington for not warning Americans, or providing them with escape routes, before Hurricane Katrina hit the coast.
To complete the comparison, this through-the-looking-glass North Korea would also be successfully strangling the U.S. with harsh international economic sanctions, fueling widespread unemployment, a shattered banking system and other woes for most Americans in a failed bid to change Washington's policies.
Little wonder why Burma, a xenophobic Southeast Asian country also known as Myanmar, recoiled in silence when Washington said it just wants to help.
Then the Pentagon offered to send its nearby USS Kitty Hawk and USS Nimitz to Burma's cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy River delta.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Coup-crazy Thailand is spooked about another possible putsch, after Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej condemned a fortune teller who met the frustrated leader of the 2006 coup.
The prime minister expressed outrage that the influential fortune teller, Varin Buaviratlert, also reportedly predicted Mr. Samak's government was going to be overthrown.
Many Thais are easily frightened by the specter of the supernatural in this deeply superstitious, Southeast Asian Buddhist country, which freely incorporates Hindu and animist beliefs.
Thais frequently perform elaborate rituals to improve their luck against perceived dangers from ghosts, bad karma, unlucky feng shui, wrong-sounding family names, the birth of a baby, curses, and a slew of other real and imagined phenomenon.
Their social insecurity has been worsened by nearly 20 coups, and attempted coups, since the 1932.
The prime minister's current coup fears, and the soothsayer's predictions, are shaking the confidence of some people while boosting the hopes of others -- and attracting sarcastic barbs.
The prime minister expressed outrage that the influential fortune teller, Varin Buaviratlert, also reportedly predicted Mr. Samak's government was going to be overthrown.
Many Thais are easily frightened by the specter of the supernatural in this deeply superstitious, Southeast Asian Buddhist country, which freely incorporates Hindu and animist beliefs.
Thais frequently perform elaborate rituals to improve their luck against perceived dangers from ghosts, bad karma, unlucky feng shui, wrong-sounding family names, the birth of a baby, curses, and a slew of other real and imagined phenomenon.
Their social insecurity has been worsened by nearly 20 coups, and attempted coups, since the 1932.
The prime minister's current coup fears, and the soothsayer's predictions, are shaking the confidence of some people while boosting the hopes of others -- and attracting sarcastic barbs.